Son of a Railroad Man, estate questions

If you are into the inventory task, that will add to the value. A spreadsheet and at least one photo.

 

Finally, as you have discovered, valuation is a time consuming task.

 

Lastly, think about how you would like to liquidate the trains. A lot of work selling them individually, for a marginal increase in yield.

 

Collection buyers will make offers if have a completed inventory and photo. 30% of market will be the range. Leave the really good pieces in the collection to keep some interest from more buyers. Stripping those out will reduce the buyers.

 

You will not get anywhere near what he paid, so don't be insulted. He enjoyed the hobby and you have to settle the estate.

 

Sorry to hear about your loss. Taking care of final business will distract you from the grief, but only for a short while. It's one of those things that will never go away. You will only learn to live with it.

 

Peace be with you.

 

 

First let me say sorry for your loss.

 

If you are inventorying for insurance purposes Moonman is correct.

 

If you are doing the inventorying for sale purposes Moonman is also correct.

 

If you want to sell the collection I have one piece  of advise. Getting a table or two at the next large train show and selling them yourself.  Get the going rate from fee bay and price them to move. Yes it is a long boring process but this the only way get max price without the all the fees and shipping charges.  You might have to get a sales tax certificate from the state you are selling and collect and pay sales tax. I did this with my HO collection when I switched to O gauge.

 

The auction site on the web is also a long process of taking pictures of each item and then a short description for each item. Then shipping each item and dealing with the policy of the auction site.

 

Pricing is a hard thing to say. You will only get what someone is willing to pay, i've sold things that brought alot more money than i thought but then sometimes a piece you think is worth alot will bring way less than thought as the market buyers change a lot. If it was me i'd take the the better pieces to a national show, put the rest up on ebay and i would wait until mid fall so that you have the biggest audience, alot of people are just train people in the fall winter and not all year

As far as collection buyers search and see what those buyers sell their scores for. They usually sell way under market value, they can do this because they give you pennies on the dollar. Sounds like your not needing the money to buy dinner tonight and really care where your pops collection ends up. So take your time and maximize the value of the collection. When you get a list send it over to me and i will help you for free on the values. By the way, make sure you keep a few pieces from the collection that you like, you will be happy you did one day!

Thanks for the replys, folks.  Dad passed in March, so I've had some time for that.  You were right that the money's not a high priority, dad had a good life insurance policy, and all the bills are taken care of.  While I myself am not part of the hobby, you can't be raised by a model railroaded and not respect the quality and dedication of it's people.

I do understand that I'm not going to get what he paid for.  That's in almost every collector field.  The main thing I need right now it's to figgure up a value to give the lawyer for the probate.  Incidentals add up, and the pile of rolling stock prebuilts and kits he had, even valued at 33% of what they were, still brought it to an eye raising amount.

As for trade shows, I've thought about that, but I'm not sure it would be worth it.  I live in central Iowa, and the common shows dad went to were Chicago(6 hour trip) and I think Kansas City (4 hour trip).  I'll probably look more into it later.

A few of his engines have foam that is disintegrating, should I look into reboxx for new foam for them before selling?

For probate purposes the easiest and probably the best way for you to proceed is to go to a professional buyer (not an auction house).  For 3-rail trains I would go to Train City (Charlie Siegle).  He has a guide for sellers.  The quote you receive would be  the quickest but lowest price you can get.

 

http://www.traincity.com/shopbuy.html

 

I am not sure who to go to for 2-rail.

 

Jan

Have you though about donating the collection to a 501c-3 train club.They can provide a tax letter etc

 

Do you have an email you can update in profile, I will gladly give you a few ideas and help.

Jan- Good info there, thanks a bunch I'll definitely look into that.  Dad did both On3 and O(plus a sprinkling of Z, HO , and G, oy!), so I'm sure there is plenty to look into.

Bill- A nice thought, but considering the sizend and the care that my dad took of the collection, he wanted it sold and put up as part of his estate.

2rail- toss me an email at Jeffrey 12 99 at Gmail dot com.  The spaces don't belong there

Sart

 

First , sorry about your Dad.

 

Being partial to this site, I'll boast to say you will get very good information from the responding members.

 

I believe many of us will leave our children in the same situation you are currently experiencing. I know for sure I'm one of them.

 

I wish you and your family the best.

 

Larry

Sorry for your loss of your dad. My dad just died in March but I had his small collection of Lionel trains for a while already, mainly some pre war trains in O gauge.

 

You will do best to sell to a buyer if you want to sell fast. If you want the most money time will need to be spent posting the items to an auction site.

 

Lee Fritz

I had a good experience selling a portion of my collection to Trainz.  You can find their ads in model railroad magazines and their website.

 

Basically you send them a spreadsheet listing all the items you want to sell.  They value it and make an offer for the entire collection.  If you accept the offer, they send you pre-paid shipping labels and you ship it to them.  They inventory it and then send you a check for the agreed price if everything is as described in the spreadsheet.

 

The offer I got was about 50% of the value that I placed on the items.  I thought that this was a fair offer.  They have to make a profit when they resell it.

 

Joe

 

 

I too am sorry to hear of your father's passing.  I own a vintage train store in Ohio and if you have an inventory list I would like to make an offer on the entire collection.  MY e-mail address in in my profile.  

 

Thank you,

 

Nick

Gents,

 

If I understand correctly, the original poster needs a value before he can sell them. He can't sell them to find out the value. (Yes, you have entered the Twilight Zone)

 

And again if I understand correctly, he has a big issue with brass engines.

 

OP, can you tell if the brass engines are two rail or three rail? The easiest way to tell is to flip them over and look for something called a "roller" that would pick up electricity from a center rail.

 

If the engines are two rail O scale brass, you might want to consider reposting in the two rail section of this forum.

 

Based on what you just posted, the engines would be two rail engines.  The majority of his stuff is classified as On3 though, and he always talked about it being narrow gauge, thus why I posted in this forum.  Guess I have my terminology wrong.  

The disintegrating foam problem is common, essentially unstoppable.

 

I would not spend your own time/money to get genuine reboxx foam replacements.  It's more value you will not recover in the selling of the item.  Let the buyer make that choice.

 

That said, do NOT rely on soft, non-resilient, disintegrating foam for any further shipping/handling.  Carefully get rid of it...period!  If the brass engine was wrapped in a plastic film, and the film has old foam bonded to it, get rid of the film, also.  In some cases, careless storage of a brass engine...the plastic film wrap did not completely isolate the engine/tender from the foam...will result in the foam bonding to and/or discoloring the brass engine, wheels, valve gear, etc..  DO NOT waste your time trying to fully remove the foam from the engine (IMHO)...the risk of further damage to metals and finish is too high....let the buyer understand that this is the situation (photos, etc.) and accept a sales price accordingly.

 

Lots of good advice above.  Although, unless your dad was a member of the bona fide club, donation and claiming a tax benefit is not a choice I would make without consulting either an attorney or tax advisor familiar with this sort of estate.  By the same token, sitting behind a train show table hoping that the passionate buyers happen to be in attendance for the specific...and most valuable...of your dad's items is not my idea of either fun or fair return.  Rather, I would carefully inquire about internet auction assistance by someone or group that is familiar with this hobby and its items, their condition, their fair market values, etc..  It's fairly hard to beat the global market exposure of the internet sales options.  It has its downsides, too, like every other option.

 

Sorry for your dad's passing.  It's nice to see that you are giving what was important to him the care and respect in finding a new home for his treasures.

 

KD

I finished off selling all of the engines and rolling by going the eBay route in the end.  It's some effort but if one has any experience selling by that route, it's pretty straightforward.  The "work" element is the packing (don't skimp!) and shipping.  But, you can take your time with this as well and spread things out at your convenience.

Well worth your time to get someone to ID and put realistic values on stuff before doing much else.

 

And, there are a number of folks that buy brass collections.

Dkdkrd, that is extremely helpful info thank you.  Dad was super particular about his brass, some of the boxes still have the white gloves in them.  Most of the bad foam boxes had their trains displayed in cases, so it wasn't until I started packing them up that I noticed they were bad.  Read that cutting up a ziploc would do well for rewrapping the brass engines in plastic, any opinions?

go to dollar store get plain gift bag paper (tissue) wrap engine.  get in touch with your paper guy and see if he will give/sell you some of the rain bags.  I've been doing it this way for for over 30 years.  Bob Anson, Custom Painter (retired).

Bob, that's perfect.  The wife and kids all do paper routes themselves.

I've done that before, too.  But I wouldn't use the 'freezer' bag material...it's too thick/stiff.  Just use the regular bags...gallon size are good.

 

BTW, whatever film you choose, DO NOT use the clingy kitchen stuff...Saran Wrap, etc.  This is especially important if your models are painted, weathered, lettered, etc..  Regardless, those clingy/static films are harmful if not a major PITA when used as model wraps. 

 

If you use a tissue paper, I would suggest...if possible...using an acid-free paper.  If unsure of the composition, ask....or search further.  In the short term it might not matter, but for the longer storage intervals?.......could be bad gnus to some finishes.

 

Again, FWIW, always...

 

KD

Excellent, dk, again, thanks for your help.

I use an industrial weight paper towel that comes in 18" square sheets to wrap everything in prior to shipping (or storage).  Extremely soft and extremely tough. No problems for many, many years now.  Avoid unknown plastic materials.

What is it about inheriting trains that makes us think that we have to maximize the value? In the midwest, farmer's kids call the auctioneer to sell the equipment and the same for a houseful of treasures.  I would not do that for trains, but when alternative buyers will take it all why not go with that.  Is not time left here on earth valuable?  Get several quotes from collection buyers, they are all over the place, let them pack, ship and sell.  Dad chose to SPEND a lot of his money on trains, he did not invest in trains, take whats left and go on with life.  Keep a couple though just in case the bug bites you.

 "He made me promise not to use any of his friends or the shop he frequented for pricing the items, but I think sympathetic railfans on the forums of one of his favorite magazines might be acceptable to him.  

So how bout it, friends?  Other than Ebay and the occasional luck in a reasonably well put togeather website, are there any other resourses I might tap into?"

 

     My condolences on the passing of your Dad, hopefully he had a satisfying life. 

   As for the model railroad inventory I'd highly recommend ebay if you know how to use a camera and don't mind a bit of work writing some basic descriptions and packing and mailing the stuff.  Anything high end will get the most exposure and best after fees price there. If you know the approximate value you can list with a starting price near it or list with reserve, if it doesn't sell first time lower by 25% and try again. Even the smaller stuff will bring a lot more than you might guess as folks on there are always looking for obscure or out of production kits, etc.  I would only sell it in a lot to a dealer if your time is too valuable to sell it yourself as the difference in bottom line could be thousands of dollars.........DaveB